After I reviewed Diva, about Maria Callas, author Sophia Lambton reached out to ask if I’d like to review her The Callas Imprint: A Centennial Biography. I agreed, and soon this massive tome arrived: the story itself 502 large pages, and 644 pages with notes. This was definitely a labor of love for Sophia, and I can’t imagine the hours she spent researching Maria.
I wondered how to tackle such a big book, and ended up deciding I’d read ten pages a day. So, for the past 50 days I’ve spent some time each afternoon learning more about opera singer Maria Callas. It was enjoyable and I did learn a lot. Some interesting things I picked up:
- Maria was very nearsighted and liked to perform without glasses or contacts, so that she could be “in a zone” and not distracted by things on the set. “My poor sight gives me another advantage. I can’t see the people in the audience … everything seems in a dense fog.” I thought this was interesting although as a fellow nearsighted person, I can’t imagine. Things are so fuzzy without my contacts.
- Despite her fame as an adult, Maria had humble beginnings. Lambton writes about her walking 20-25 minutes through a European city during World War II to get from a recital to a Tosca performance she was in, hoping to stay safe from bombing.
- I learned about “clacques” — “groups hired by singers’ agencies to sabotage their clients’ rivals mid-performance.” The operas I watch have such polite-seeming audiences; it’s crazy to imagine that less than 100 years ago all this booing etc. going on.
- I liked this description of opera: “Only in this genre can a character convincingly recite a monologue whilst bleeding with a knife stuck in their heart.” Ha ha, so true, and my daughter and I would predict, after such an act, how long the character would continue singing before finally dying.
- As always with nonfiction, I enjoy making connections. Here, Maria worked a lot with director Luchino Visconti, who I knew as the director of one of the most famous and gorgeous films about Ludwig II.
- I found it interesting that Maria hesitated to play Carmen for years, since the role is for a mezzo-soprano. She felt mezzo-sopranos were inferior to the flashier colaratura-sopranos, which Callas saw herself as.
- As she gained worldwide fame, Callas definitely exhibited some diva-like behaviors. The story is told of a visit she made to Egypt with love Aristotle Onassis. For modesty, women were required to cover their legs at one place, and Maria didn’t want to: “I will not put on those stockings. After all, I am Maria Callas!” Not the type of pronouncement most of us would make.
- While there would be some definite benefits to being as famous as Callas was, I saw so many drawbacks. Many in her field disliked her due to her talent and actively worked to sabotage her. She was constantly dealing with lawsuits, negative press, etc. It made me stressed to imagine what such a life would be like.
The book’s writing style was highly stylized, and many times I’d have to reread a sentence to try to take in what it was saying: “Ritually the former took de Hidalgo’s terrier Gigi for her walks,” “While others scavenged for nutrition the illustrious sapling stumbled on stage rivalry,” etc. There was also a lot of alliteration, which to me was distracting: “mawkish was the man the moment he heard her sing,” “perfidious paparazzi,” “pernicious press,” “pyrrhic pokes,” etc.
The book was focused much more on Callas’ career than on her personal life. Much detail is given to specific opera performances, down to things like the way she would pronounce words: “the ‘pa’ of pace.” As such, I think this biography would appeal most to serious opera fans.
Girls in White Dresses 
“I learned about “clacques” —” like the Sussex Squad on social media who trash Catherine and promote Markle lol. The more things change, the more they stay the same! Lol
You are beyond self-disciplined! No wonder you were such an outstanding student.
I had not heard of “clacques” —sounds both interesting and terrible! I’m very glad not to be famous. The writing does sound stylized–I’m surprised a couple of those things got past an editor. But maybe it seemed appropriate for the subject.
I don’t believe this book would be my thing! In the first place, if it weren’t very, very interesting, I would never get through a book that long. And after reading your review, I don’t believe I would find this very interesting.
I smiled as I read hopewell’s comment about your being beyond self-disciplined! She hit the nail on the head! How did you develop such self-discipline? I remember you had it even as a child.
Hopewell is right about you being self-disciplined!! I could never get through this long of a book at my age. But I certainly enjoyed your review. You pointed out so many interesting things and I liked to learn about Callas.